Manifestations of the Disease of Ignorance in Sentient Beings

The ignorance of sentient beings is the most fundamental mental illness—the inverted views and disordered thoughts of the seventh and sixth consciousnesses. We will not speak of the mental illnesses of the general public, but only of the mental illnesses of Buddhist practitioners. What are the manifestations of a Buddhist practitioner's mental illness, and what is their fundamental source?

The mental illness of Buddhist practitioners manifests in the exaggeration of self, fundamentally arising from the deeply entrenched "I"—that intense ego. To illustrate how severe the sense of self in sentient beings is: back when going into business and starting enterprises first became popular, society suddenly produced countless general managers and chairmen of the board, beyond counting, to the point that the staff at the Industrial and Commercial Bureau handling license applications would say: "Your company has only two or three people; just write 'manager' as your title—you don't qualify as a general manager or chairman." Yet the streets were still full of general managers. If a rock fell from the sky, it could instantly kill twenty or thirty general managers and several chairmen of the board.

Nowadays, within the ranks of Buddhist practitioners, the manifestation of beings' ego is just the same: they do whatever it takes to make themselves stand out as extraordinary. There are countless good spiritual teachers, enlightened bodhisattvas, returning bodhisattvas, and bodhisattvas of the stages of equality and wondrous awakening, plus heaps of masters—great sages fill the world. If a large rock fell from the sky, it would instantly kill about twenty enlightened bodhisattvas, about ten good spiritual teachers, about five bodhisattvas of the stages of equality and wondrous awakening, and three or more masters. It would be just as well if they were all killed—the Saha world has long been overcrowded with sages. Let these sages hurry off to other buddha-lands to save sentient beings; the Saha world has no need for so many of them. Gathered together, they only fight with one another. If they won't leave, they should be forced out.

If one is fortunate enough to encounter a good spiritual teacher of the mentally ill variety, one can be guided to enlightenment within a few days, at most no more than a month. After being "enlightened" for three to five days, or a few months, one will start considering organizing a group to teach the Dharma and save sentient beings. Sages multiply so fast that the Saha world will soon have no sentient beings left to save; Śākyamuni Buddha could completely take a rest and spare himself the worry. Then these great sages can spread out to other worlds to help other buddhas save sentient beings, letting all the buddhas of the ten directions rest and spare themselves the worry too.

From now on, whenever you encounter some good spiritual teacher, some bodhisattva of the stages of equality and wondrous awakening, some returning one, some arhat, some master or the like, you should advise them to disperse as much as possible and go to places without good spiritual teachers or sages to save sentient beings, instead of all crowding into the tiny Saha world making a noisy racket. The Saha world is already almost entirely sages; there are hardly any sentient beings left to save, so do not waste the talents and virtues of the sages. From now on, if anyone tells you they have attained enlightenment and realized the fruits, you can tell them this is no longer anything remarkable—enlightened ones who have realized the fruits are everywhere, so what is there to be surprised about or to boast of? Good spiritual teachers who teach the Dharma and save sentient beings are everywhere; that is no longer anything strange or worth bragging about either.

Yet there is one strange thing I cannot figure out: as the Saha world produces more and more sages, why do natural disasters and human calamities also increase accordingly? Could it be that these sages are the ones bringing the natural disasters and human calamities? I truly cannot figure it out! >> Why do sages multiply so fast, breeding like cockroaches? Because sentient beings are simply too foolish and stupid—excessively foolish and stupid, excessively egocentric, and too full of seeking. They do not study the Buddhist sutras, they refuse the guiding lamp, and would rather be blind cats. With five black cloths over their eyes, they bump into someone, recognize them as a good spiritual teacher, and get carried away—whatever they say goes. It is like being deeply hypnotized: unable to use their own brains, they accept wholesale whatever is indoctrinated into them.

These so-called good spiritual teachers are even more formidable than the Buddha himself, manipulating sentient beings into total prostration. That is why enlightenment comes extremely quickly, far surpassing the Buddha's level of guidance. If the Buddha came into this world, he could not lead more than a few people to enlightenment, whereas these good spiritual teachers can turn the difficult into the easy—isn't that strange?

Why do those mentally ill beings, after "enlightenment," not suspect in the slightest that they have been deceived? Foolishness is one aspect, but the biggest aspect is that their self-nature is too strong. As soon as they have the empty title of "enlightened," they immediately feel themselves grow tall and mighty, superior to everyone else, with a strong sense of satisfaction in their minds. And all these feelings are an extremely severe flooding of self-nature, of which they are completely unaware. To put it crudely: idiots.